A new weather instrument in the works from a Colorado State University-led research team will help NASA study the climate in the upper levels of the earth’s atmosphere, specifically ice particles in clouds — information useful to improving global climate models.

The Tropospheric Water and Cloud ICE (TWICE) will be designed to weigh just over 17 pounds, small enough to fit in CubeSats, nano-satellites launched in conjunction with larger NASA satellite missions.

Once in orbit, TWICE will scan the upper troposphere measuring the size of ice particles and water vapor in clouds, collecting data to help researchers determine the effects of human-produced pollution on the climate. Dust, smoke from fires and general air pollution can influence the size of ice particles in clouds. When large amounts of these pollutants are present, clouds form smaller ice particles, resulting in less rain.

NASA awarded $4.5 million to CSU electrical and computer engineering professor Steven Reising for the project.

“There is a lot of uncertainty about the effects of air pollution on clouds and climate,” Reising said in a news release. “Our goal is to reduce this uncertainty to help improve climate predictions.”

UPDATE FOR THE RECORD: Flatiron Freddy did NOT see his shadow in Boulder. His colleague in Pennsylvania, however, saw his and predicted the standard six more weeks of winter.

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Just a quick note that, while the Broncos aren’t always in the Super Bowl, the second day of February is always Groundhog Day.

According to his posted schedule, Boulder’s “Flatiron Freddy” will make his annual appearance at 8 a..m. on Sunday at the Chautauqua Ranger Cottage at 900 Baseline Road. As reported last year, Freddy the marmot is beginning to show wear and tear from his years of service to the meteorological community. The feeling is that one of these years Freddy will have to be replaced by a a younger, fresher dead marmot.

In the cinematic tradition of Groundhog Day, the rest of this blog post is cut-and-paste from 2013. But we will eagerly await Sunday’s breaking rodent reports from Pennsylvania, Boulder and elsewhere.

As people note every year, Colorado does not have groundhogs, and is forced to rely on Flatiron Freddy, a yellow-bellied marmot who lives in Boulder.

OK, not LIVES actually. Freddy is stuffed. He was hit by a car many years ago and each year he makes (by necessity) a mechanical appearance. One year he drove up in a remote-controlled car and one year he popped up via strings. Last year, rangers hinted he might use a zip line but, alas, so far that hasn’t happened.

It is unclear whether Freddy even did any forecasting while alive. It is possible that the fact he was road kill actually helped him get the job. Although I found one clip that said he was “formerly a marmot“, I firmly believe that once a marmot, always a marmot.

This year (2013), Freddy saw his shadow — or would have if he was alive. It as the second year in a row he has given the opposite prediction from Punxsutawny Phil, his more famous Pennsylvania cousin. In 2012, there were shadows back East but not here. (It is more than a thousand miles away, after all.)

Others groundhogs competing for the spotlight include Sir Walter Wally in North Carolina and Gen. Beauregard Lee in Georgia. Most of them are alive, but Ridge Lea Larry, in upstate New York, is also stuffed, and the “groundhog” in Silver Point, Tenn., is a person in a rodent costume on a motorcycle.

Just to remind you, seeing the shadow means six more weeks of winter and no shadow means an early spring. Groundhog day is actually Candlemas, as mentioned in one old poem ….

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

The Germans call it Grundsaudaag and substituted groundhogs for hedgehogs after immigrating to America, according to some versions (or instead of badgers … or even bears … in others.)

P.S.: I found two mentions of Stormy Marmot on the web, who is based in Aurora — but both mentions were by Phil-loyalists who only mentioned him to put him down. I don’t know if he made an appearance this year.

UPDATE I received a email from Stormy the Marmot, who said he is attempting to find out why Wikipedia did not include his prediction this year. Stormy provided a link to his forecast (which calls for six more weeks of winter.)

AND ONE MORE UPDATE: Sorry to see that updated Daily Camera story reports that Freddy is “beginning to fall apart” having being chewed on by mice (his evil cousins) while in storage. Hang in there, Freddy.

Nicknamed the “Hand of God,” this object called a pulsar wind nebula is seen in a high-energy X-ray image. (NASA)

The “Hand of God” nebula is nothing new.

In the short-term, it has been around since NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory released photos of a pulsar wind nubula known as PSR B1509-58 (B1509 for short) in April 2009. In the longer term, even though scientists say it is a “young” nebula, it is 17,000 light years away.

A pulsar is the corpse of a star that died in a supernova explosion. The pulsar spins around at seven times per second, firing a particle wind into the material ejected in that explosion. These particles interact with magnetic fields around the material, causing it to glow with X-rays. (The pulsar itself can’t be seen.)

In the 2009 photos, the nubula cloud looked like an open hand. But NASA notes:

“The hand actually shrinks in the NuSTAR image, looking more like a fist, as indicated by the blue color. The northern region, where the fingers are located, shrinks more than the southern part, where a jet lies, implying the two areas are physically different.”

NASA said the red cloud at the end of the finger region is a different structure, called RCW 89. The agency says astronomers think the pulsar’s wind is “heating the cloud, causing it to glow with lower-energy X-ray light.”

The big question that scientists are still working on whether the whole structure is actually shaped like a hand or whether it’s an optical illusion.

The advisory, which expires Saturday, says new snow and heavy winds on top of weak layers have increased the possibility of large avalanches.

“New snow totals are in the 3 to 6 inch range with west and northwest winds in the 10 to 40 mph range and guts near 70 mph. The strong winds extend down below treeline on the east side of the range. Wind Slab avalanches will be the most common avalanche problem today,” the advisory says.

“If you trigger an avalanche in the new snow, it could step down to a deeper weak layer and release a much more dangerous avalanche.”

While avalanche danger is still technically labeled “considerable,” the center warns that conditions are trending towards “high” and those venturing into the backcountry over the next few days should be extra cautious.

The warning notes that recent weather conditions and loading events have produced some of the largest avalanches the center has seen all season. Last week, an explosive-triggered avalanche on Loveland Pass was over 3 feet deep and 600 feet wide.

Mike Weed shovels snow outside his home in Littleton, Jan. 4, 2014. He said, “if it’s going to be winter I’d rather see it snow… I’d rather be in the mountains skiing in it.” (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post)

As far as snowstorms go, what is hitting the Denver metro area this weekend is middling at best. (I am still waiting for a big one. I consider “Big One” to be 15 inches, and we haven’t one of those in Denver since February 2012 … at 15.9 inches. And even that one fell short of panicked predictions at the time.)

Most injuries — 34 percent — are to the lower back. More seriously, that study found that cardiac-related injuries during snow removal accounted for ALL of the more than 1,600 snow removal deaths reported during those 16 years.

The Consumer Reports piece also has some shoveling tips, including the reminder to shovel early and often. Try to shovel while the snow is light and powdery.

Also:
— Bend your knees.
— Keep your back as straight and vertical as possible and stand up.
— Keep your hand close to the scoop, which makes the load seem lighter.
— Take small amounts of snow.
— Do not throw the snow over your shoulder or to the side. That twisting motion can stress your back.
— PACE YOURSELF. Take breaks and rehydrate.

— Lighter weight means easier lifting, a rigid shovel is best and a cheap shovel won’t be great. Expect to spend $30 or $35.
— A wood handle is handsome but heavy, metal is cold, and plastic or fiberglass is often just right.
— D-handled grip is best.
— Go for a sturdy scoop. Metal is generally more rigid than plastic but heavier. Steel on the leading edge can extend a shovel’s life but scratch a delicate surface such as decking.
— Finally, the Digest suggests going with more than one shovel for different situations.

A skiers and snowboarders head down an intermediate run under the American Eagle lift at the Copper Mountain Ski area in 2013. Copper will open for the 2013-2014 season on Nov. 1. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

With November fast approaching, so too are the opening days for a handful of ski areas across Colorado.

Favorable early-season conditions have paid off for Arapahoe Basin and Loveland ski areas. Both were able to open in mid-October and have since been able to open new terrain much sooner than in previous years. A-Basin said they are opening new runs about two to three weeks earlier than normal.

NASA Hubble Space Telescope image from April 10, 2013 shows Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) when the comet was at a distance of 386 million miles from the Sun (394 million miles from Earth). (NASA, AFP/Getty Images file)

You may have seen the stories about the new asteroid, 2013 TV135. Scientists announced this week that, back in September, it came within 4.2 million miles of us, leading to d’oh headlines like “Newly discovered asteroid missed Earth.”

More important, preliminary reports show the 1,345-foot asteroid will come within 1 million miles of our planet on Aug. 26, 2032. (Which sounds right about the time they always say Social Security will go bankrupt.) That means there is a one in 63,000 chance of impact — a 99.998 percent chance it will miss, according to NASA. If it hit, it would not be an extinction event but merely 50 times more powerful than a big nuclear bomb.

Again, it is merely a danger rating on one of the Torino scale. (All but one other asteroid is a “zero.”

Anyway, this story reminded me to check up on ISON.

This spring, there was speculation that the comet ISON would “outshine the moon” toward the end of 2013, and be visible in the night sky starting in early December and lasting through January 2014.

But — and it is a big one — the comet needs to survive its close encounter with the sun on Nov. 28.

Good news. It has survived so far. The Hubble Space Telescope spotted it on Oct. 9.

ISON appears to be big enough to survive, so scientists remain optimistic that we will get a good show very soon. All we can do is wait.

For those heading up for the opening day festivities, temperatures should reach the mid- to upper-40s by midday under mostly sunny skies — warm enough stay cozy in the (one) lift line.

According to the National Weather Service, winds from 11 to 14 mph could bring temperatures down a few degrees to the upper-30s with the wind chill factored in. Only a slight chance of snow is predicted, with a 20 percent chance after noon that will increase to 30 percent by Sunday night. About an inch of snow could fall into Monday morning.

Photos of the Colorado sunrise were a popular item on social media Tuesday morning, Oct. 8, 2013, as Denver prepared for what was expected to be an unseasonably warm day.

Temperatures are expected to climb to 80 degrees in Denver on Tuesday under mostly sunny skies. The average high for Oct. 8 in Denver is 69 degrees. However, we are likely to fall short of the all-time high of 85 degrees set in 1910.

The most snow Colorado saw from Friday’s autumn snowstorm was about a foot that fell around Steamboat Springs. Official weather stations in town recorded as much as 11.6 inches.

About 400 miles to the northeast, in the small town of Lead, South Dakota, the same storm system brought more than triple that amount. Upwards of 43 inches of snow had fallen in Lead by 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Forecast Colorado is your place for the latest breaking weather news for Denver and Colorado, featuring the latest forecasts, road conditions and closures — with an occasional detour into meterological science, trivia and oddities.